Dany's bit was exactly what I was hoping for. They nailed it. All of it.

I do wish they had the guts to spend a little more time with each storyline per episode. I appreciate that they at least left out SOME of the groupings, but there's still just a little too much "hey remember these guys they're still doing their thing" for my tastes. This fourth episode does come close to a decent balance (with the King's Landing bits flowing together nicely), but it'd still work better to give each faction more of its own episode.

It's a totally divergent storyline from the books ( I did mention those would be more obvious and frequent, didn't I? ) and I'm really wondering if it's just for a laugh or are they up to something I'm not hip to becuase I haven't read the last book. Or two. I forget. Still, it's grabbed my brain in an inappropriate way.

[ and by last book or two I mean last book or two out so far. what if HBO ( almost certainly ) has inside dope on the so far unpublished ending and is already intertwining that into the series? ]

So I thought last night's episode was pretty good. Jon Snow proved he knew something after all, the fight between Dondarion and Sandor was really well choreographed (including the Hound's look of "Why the fuck is it always fucking fire?"), but the best I thought the show was stolen by Jaime. The scene with Qyburn was good but the scene with Brienne was excellent.

LOL, I know, right? My brother had this to say about that last scene "WELCOME TO KINGS LANDING WHERE WE HAVE EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY WANT EXCEPT SMILES! THERE ARE NO SMILES HERE! SEE THAT BARREN FIELD OUTSIDE OF THE CITY, THAT IS WHERE WE HARVEST OUR SMILES!"

It's OK. I'm pretty sure Littlefinger's still pleased about something. Littlefinger could be being fed into a meat grinder feet first and he'd still have that look on his face that says he's got something cooking.

Loved the Jaime scenes. The actors in this show keep being good enough to carry an episode almost solely based on people standing or sitting around and talking in various settings.

One niggle with Jaime's feverish speech. I could've sworn he didn't outright do the "What would you have done? What would you do with your oath?" bit in the middle of it all in the book. And it might - MIGHT have worked better without it, if he'd let the subtext tell it all.

Then again, in the books his internal dialogue gives all that very clearly, so I guess it had to be said too, to make it clearer for the viewers of the show who aren't as familiar with the characters. I just feel that THAT moment might have been better if they'd let the story speak for itself. Maybe.